During December 2012-July 2016, we tested small indoor and outdoor mammals in Qingdao, China, for Orientia tsutsugamushi infection. We found that outdoor Apodemus agrarius mice, Cricetulus barabensis hamsters, and Niviventer confucianus rats, as well as indoor Mus musculus mice, tested positive for O. tsutsugamushi by PCR.
Keywords: China; Orientia tsutsugamushi; Shandong; animal host; bacteria; bacterial zoonoses; chiggers; mites; rodents; scrub typhus; vector-borne diseases; zoonoses; zoonotic infections.